1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to tools for manipulating steel tapes. More particularly, the invention relates to tools which are useful for gripping and pulling steel leader tapes, referred to as fish tapes, which are used to pull attached electrical wires through building walls.
2. Description of Background Art
Fish tapes are flexible steel tapes availabe in various lengths and used to "fish" attached electrical wires through walls and floors of structures in which new electrical wiring is being installed. A typical fish tape has a hook at one end adapted to attachment to the end of an electrical wire. The hooked end of the tape is inserted into the opening of a conduit or other passageway through which it is desired to string an electrical cable. The tape is then fed into the conduit by pushing on the slack end, until the hook emerges from the conduit. The hook is then attached to the end of the electrical cable. After the hook has been attached to the end of the cable, a pulling force is applied to the opposite end of the tape, pulling the tape and attached cable through the conduit.
Typical fish tapes are 1/4" to 5/16" wide, about 1/16" thick, and are supplied in reels containing 100 or 200 feet of tape. Frequently, substantial frictional resistance is encountered between the surfaces of the electrical wires and the walls of the conduits or passageways through which the wires are being pulled. Overcoming this frictional resistance makes it necessary to exert a large pulling force on the free end of the fish tape in pulling the wire all the way through the passageway.
Since it is difficult to exert a large pulling force on the free end of a fish tape with bare hands, pliers are sometimes used to grasp the free end of the fish tape to permit application of a larger pulling force. However, in practice, the jaws of the pliers frequently slip off of and damage the fish tape. Thus, the use of pliers provides a less than satisfactory solution to the problem of exerting a large pulling force on the fish tape.
In an effort to improve upon the pliers is a tool for pulling fish tapes, various tools have been devised. These include tools disclosed in the following U.S. patents: Goodall, U.S. Pat. No. 1,880,431, Oct. 4, 1932, Tool For Forcing and Drawing an Element Through Conduits; Patterson, U.S. Pat. No. 1,939,187, Dec. 12, 1933, Fish Tape Puller; Hughes, U.S. Pat. No. 2,736,532, Feb. 28, 1956, Tool For Pushing or Pulling Fish Tape Through a Conduit; and Ehrens, U.S. Pat. No. 3,763,722, Oct. 9, 1973, Gripping and Pulling Tool for Retracting Guide Tapes From Conduit While Pulling Electrical Wires Into the Conduit.
The tools disclosed in the above-cited references may be useful in performing their intended function. However, the present invention was conceived of to provide a fish tape pulling tool of advantageous design and function.